The Nonbeliever
by underdog7
Summary: Stelena AU/ Stefan's life turns upside down one night after he and his brother steal a car and get caught. He doesn't even suppose how things will change later when he gets out of jail and ends up on the other side of town, with people he knows nothing about, but treat him better than his family. Will he ends up believing that true love exists and dreams are possible?
1. Chapter 1

_**Hey guys. This is my first story. The first chapter is inspired by the O.C but later on I plan on changing things and turning them into other directions so it won't be like the show. There might be similarities, but I just won't stick with the same storylines. Hope you like it and I would appreciate the reviews. **_

_**Stefan's POV **_

I was lying in the bed staring at the ceiling in the empty cell that they've stuck me in, waiting for a public lawyer to finally come and get me out of this mess.

I buried my fingers in my hair nervously, thinking about everything that happened only a day ago. I knew that I shouldn't have listened to Damon-we were never supposed to steal this car, even though it was as he said, more or less his-he was awaiting for some debt to be paid back, but that's Damon and his stories are not always true.

I wonder where he was right now, surely he would be staying in jail for a while since he was over eighteen and had some drugs in his pockets when they caught us, to that I guess I can also add the fact that he was drunk and once again I cursed myself for listening to him and following him in that stupid attempt to steal this car.

I guess that we could've just gotten away with it, if we had a little bit of luck, but at some point I lost control over the car and Damon intervened as well only to crush us in this fence, after which the police simply caught up with us and got us out so they could cuff us.

Damon wasn't a bad person, I knew it-he has taken care of me since I was nine years old, after our mother died and our drunk of a father simply stopped caring about us. He just had the tendency to get into messes, he wasn't always playing fair-he preferred to steal and do illegal stuff instead of finding a relatively decent job and working. And yes, just like our father, he also had a drinking problem, but at least for now it wasn't that bad.

Damon's been hitting rock bottom in the last year and more or less he has abandoned me so he would deal with his own stuff and do whatever it was he was doing, except for finding something decent to do. I was trying to stay out of trouble, but I'm guessing we just had it in our blood-to get into uncontrollable messes.

We were living in a relatively decent, but poor neighborhood here and the damp flat in which once upon a time we inhabitet as a happy family, was nothing but a shattered picture of our own reality-there were barely any furniture left, only two mattresses on the floor, a bunch of shirts and jeans, no longer recognizable which were mine or Damon's, a table with two chairs and an old TV.

I have no idea why I was thinking of our family home when I knew perfectly that I couldn't go back there-two weeks ago our amazing father has rented it to some family he found from God knows where.

It came out of nowhere to Damon and I-we were finally about to get home and spent some time together, trying to figure out where we could get some money to pay the electricity bill and when we couldn't open the door, we rang-on our own doorstep and a really nice woman opened up and said our father rented the place to them, they even paid the bills and the rent for the first two months. None of our stuff were inside anymore-no clothes, not even my things for school-absolutely nothing, they were settling in and turning this desperate damp hole into a real nice flat and here we were my brother and me-homeless.

Damon wasn't that worried as he could always stay at his girlfriend at the time-Bonnie, who I'm guessing is either dumping his ass right now or trying to figure out how to get him out of jail. She was a really nice person-nothing like my brother. She wasn't troublesome and she worked at a restaurant a bit outside of town-her problem was that she was helplessly in love with my troublesome big brother. They had this kind of special connection, a true love, I used to call it, not that I very much believe in it. I always thought she would leave him one day as they constantly argued and fought, but somehow, no matter what Damon did, she always found the strength in her to forgive him. She loved him very much and she cared for me as well-she is a good friend of mine. Maybe I should talk in past tense-I doubt she'll want to see me or Damon ever again, not after we pulled that stunt and my brother got himself behind bars-I'm sure she's had enough of us.

I had no idea what would happen once I get out-I had nowhere to go, not when my brother was still in jail. He was usually the one with the connections and the friends who would take us in-he was the one who took cared enough to do something. I had a few friends that would possibly take me for a night or two, but after that I had no idea what I would do and where would I sleep.

"Salvatore, get up, the lawyer's here!"

One of the guards yelled from the hallway and I stood up, eager to get out of here, not that there was anything out there for me.

Even though, I was in a rush to get up, I couldn't-last night I got into an awful fight with some of the guys here, which is why they put me in a separate cell and I think I bruised my ribs pretty bad, but I don't really pay attention to those things anymore-Damon and I, we've had too many misunderstandings with various people all those years.

The guard went inside to cuff me and lead me through the hallway into the visitor's area. As we passed by the cell of the guys I had troubles with last night, they started yelling at me, but there wasn't anything I could do as the guard was holding me pretty tight and we only exchanged some swears.

I liked pissing them off, though they were some pretty tough guys who could seriously kick my ass. I wasn't that strong.

Just before the guard got me inside the visitation's room he uncuffed me and nodded towards one of the tables where a woman in her late thirties was reading through a file. She looked quite serious and very lost in her thoughts, but once I approached her and sat down, she looked up at me and gave me a wide smile.

"Stefan Salvatore" she started as she took another glance at what was obviously my file and stretched her hand to shake it.

I looked at her in disbelief. Public defenders weren't usually that nice to people like us-I knew it as I've dealt with them before. She noticed my hesitation and thought that I won't return her greet, but just as she was about to give up, I stretched my hand and shook hers gently, because my knuckles hurt.

She looked like one of those rich ladies, who you watch at the movies and think how the only thing they do all day long is spent their husband's money on clothes or redecorating the house.

Despite the fact that she obviously was coming from a wealthy family and didn't have the money problem Damon and I've been struggling with, she seemed quite serious-she reminded me of our mother a bit.

"I'm Miranda Gilbert, your lawyer. I was assigned to your case this morning and I was in a bit of a rush, so I had to go through your file now."

I nodded, but didn't really spoke up. I wasn't easily trusting people if I have to be honest-I had too many troubles for my seventeen years and the best lesson Damon has ever taught me was to never trust people until I get to know them very well, especially not rich people. And the woman in front of me-well..she surely fell in this category, she belonged to a whole other world, which I wasn't a part of. I wondered why a woman like her was even dealing with lost causes like me-she must be extremely bored.

"So you and your brother stole a car" she began and brought me back to earth "And crashed it. You had no license and you were resisting the arrest" she continued in the same tone as she kept staring down my file

"Can you tell me how's my brother doing?" I asked, my voice silent and hoarse, but I'm guessing me finally speaking up caught her attention and she stared at my black eye, which was preventing me from giving her a really sad look, which would earn me the privilege to figure out what's up with Damon

"He's going to stay in jail for a while, but he has a trial soon" she commented "In which you might have to participate, but I'm trying to prevent it. For now, I need to get you out of here, before you've got yourself into another jail fight." I looked away, not really because I was ashamed, but rather more because I was trying to avoid her judgy look.

"Okay, so you're seventeen" she stared back at the file "No mother?" she asked, obviously it wasn't stated in the file what has happened to the only parent who truly cared about me

"She's dead." I stated quite sternly and she gave me the same pitiful look that I've been seeing for years now

"And we also couldn't contact your father."

"You'll surely have troubles with that one" I haven't seen him in more than a month, I had no idea where he was or what he's dealing with. I was going to try and hide this from her though, because I knew she would call the social workers if she figures out I have no parental figure.

"I need to make sure there's someone out there for you when you get out, though." she furrowed her eyebrows again "Otherwise I'll have to call the child services."

"It's okay, I'll find him once I you let me out, I promise." I said quite nervously and she felt like I might be lying to her so she leaned back on the chair and put her pen down.

"How long has it been since you last saw him" -just as I was about to protest and assure her that I'm with him all the time she interrupted me and continued "Cut the crap, Stefan. Just tell me the truth."

"I'll find him, I'm sure of it" I tried again as I was too stubborn to admit that I had no idea if my father would even recognize me if he saw me right now, especially when I had in mind how much he drank. "Just get me out of here, please" I asked and she let a tired sigh out as she looked back at my file.

"You missed quite a bunch of classes and it's only the beginning of the year" she looked back up and I just shrugged my shoulders. "Your grades are not bad though, but it would be better that you showed more effort if you want to go to college one day." her comment made me laugh out loud and she gave me a confused look as she furrowed her eyebrows while I just let an annoyed sigh out. This woman surely had some nice sense of humor. "Though I'm seeing you're not very eager to start working on that."

"I'm just realistic is all, madam." I responded, trying to sound politely, though I still found it funny that she thought I would ever go to college. Was she blind? Did she not read where I lived and what kind of family I had? She let another tired sigh out and called the guard by our side.

"You can go now, but I'll be waiting for you outside and we'll drive to your home. I need to make sure there's someone, who would take care of you."

"But" I tried to protest and she shook her head

"I'm sorry, Stefan, it's my job to take care of this" she nodded to the guard to guided me outside and lead me to another room where I would change the blue jumpsuit for my old clothes, the one they caught me with, which were pretty dirty since I've tried to get away and once they caught me the pinned me to the ground in order to calm me down and cuff me. I had no jacket or anything like this-only my jeans and a white, stained with blood and dirt shirt, but at least I was a free person again, even though I was still homeless.

When I got outside at first I didn't see Mrs. Gilbert, so I figured I should leave before she catches up with me-I was glad that she got me out of this mess, before one of those guys inside stabbed me with something, but I wanted to get rid of her. Just as I was about to cross the street though, I felt her hand on my arm and sighed annoyed with her.

"Don't try to get away with this." she was holding a bunch of files, which explained why she was late and she almost dropped them on the ground, but I managed to catch them in last minute and help her gather the few lists that ended up in our feet. She then guided me to her pretty nice and shiny new car.

"I'm really all good from here." I tried again, but she just opened the door and almost kicked me in.

I was desperate to figure out a way and lie to her-I couldn't let her drive me to the child serves or something like this, I had to figure something else out so when she asked me where to, I started guiding her towards Bonnie' s family house. I knew there wouldn't be anyone there right now and her home looked quite good, so I would manage to fool her. I've done it before-public defenders don't really care about you, they just want to get rid of you as fast as they can, which is why she was surprising me in her insistence to get me back home and was making everything way harder than I wanted. We didn't talk much on our way there, I kept asking her about my brother, but she said she really doesn't know any details when it comes to his case.

"Look, Stefan, I really appreciate the fact that you care deeply for your brother, but you should also start thinking about yourself and your own future. Stealing cars with him, just because he asked you to, is not doing so. You were lucky now, but if you continue doing those stuff you'll end up in an even worse place than you were last night." I stopped listening to her at one point.

I've heard all those words before and I wasn't even slightly surprised that she was giving me a speech-that's what they all did-they talked.

And I hated talking, because it never gets you anywhere-I had important things to deal with-like find a place to stay and get a job. School and college were the last thing on my mind and here she was-teaching all about how good my life can be. Well, it can't be, not now for sure-everything was going down and feeding me empty hopes wouldn't get me anywhere.

When we finally got near Bonnie' s house, she was still talking and I still wasn't paying attention, instead I stared at the balcony and noticed that the laundry was still there, the beautiful green flower dress that my brother has bought her a few months back for her birthday was handing there and it made me smile. Maybe she hasn't given up on him. Yet.

"My dad is surely inside" I started as I pointed at the light coming from what I knew was the kitchen "There's no need to come, he must be sleeping and he'll get angry that we woke him up." I lied. She gave me a suspicious look as she continued observing the house, trying to figure out whether I was lying or not.

For a moment, I thought she would insist on getting in, but she eventually sighed and let me go. I knew she would wait until I climb the front stairs and get inside, but surprisingly she drove off before I've even started pretending that I'm looking for my keys. I waited until she made a right turn and ran back to the street, leaving a relived sigh out.

Now I only needed to find some place to stay and maybe get some food since I was starving-I couldn't knock on Bonnie's door, I'm pretty sure she would be way too pissed off to deal with me right now. That or she would be on the search for a lawyer for Damon. Either way, I wasn't going to bother her.

I couldn't remember the last time I've had something to eat. I looked up at the sky-it was getting dark and cold and my only option of a place to stay was at a friend on the other side of town. Now I regretted making the lawyer drive me all the way here-it would take me another hour if not more to arrive at my possible destination and I couldn't really call anyone as I didn't even have a phone. Just as I made a turn at the opposite corner of the one Mrs. Gilbert has taken I stopped abruptly at the sight of her leaning on her car staring at me with her arms crossed. I took a step back frightened-she knew I was lying and because she was smart enough to figure it out, she made a full circle right back to this place, only so she could catch me, trying to find my way out of this neighborhood.

In the first minute or so, I had no idea what I should do, but once I gathered myself together, I figured that the best option I had was to run away, though I wasn't sure how far I would go before she catches up with me.

"Don't run, please" she said as she figured my intentions for yet another time today "I just want to help you."

"You can't" I shook my head as she started approaching me and I took another step back, as if I wanted to protect myself from her, not that she would ever do something to me. I'm guessing it was just an instinct me and Damon had-our father used to be really rough on us when we were kids.

"Where's your father, Stefan?" she asked, her voice was very warm. She really cared about all this and that's what I hated most-people like her were what I despised most in life, but people like her who cared-well they were dangerous.

"Please, just let me go, I can take care of myself." I started but she shook her head in another desperate attempt to convince me she can't simply leave things like this

"Come on," she opened up the car door "You'll sleep at my house tonight and we'll figure something else tomorrow. It's Friday anyway, I can't take you to the child serves, they've closed already."

"Why do you care so much?" I asked annoyed as I threw my hands in the air "Can't you just let me be?"

"I care, because I have a seventeen year old waiting for me at home as well and I wouldn't be able to stand myself if she ever got herself in the condition you're in." she answered sincerely as she also raised her voice, but not because she was scolding me-she just wanted to make her point.

I really had no place to go right now. Yeah, sure, I could try sleeping at my friend's flat, but I'm not sure it would work out and I could always just get my stuff in the middle of the day and run off somewhere, before she gets me to the child services.

"Come on, kiddow, you need to sleep somewhere, we both know this." she urged me with a smile and I finally agreed, though very unwillingly-I really had a problem trusting people and I felt like going with her would bring me more trouble than I could handle, but there was really no other option, not right now at least.

She drove us off to another part of town, which had nothing to do with my neighborhood-not that it was too fancy or anything, but the houses and the people walking down the street with their well-dressed children, were a scenery, I wasn't used to seeing. I wondered how nice it would be to live here, to just have everything you can ever wish for and not think of where on earth your brother is getting drunk or get home to find out that you don't have one anymore.

"You like it here?" she asked as she noticed me staring through the car window

"It's just so..different" I commented, not that it was the first time I've been here. Actually I remember coming to this part of town with mom when I was a kid-she used to clean some houses around here and cook for lonely divorced husbands who worked too much. I used to have fun and play in their enormous backyards while she cleaned inside and didn't let me go in with my dirty shoes, so I had to go all the way to the front door and wait for her or for Damon to come and pick me up so he would take me home, get me something to eat and play with me. I smiled at the memory of my family and how happy we were before, even when we were still struggling. I never thought we would get that bad-me and my brother homeless and what was worse-he was in jail. I wonder what mom would've said If she could see this right now. I sincerely hope she isn't watching from somewhere "It's just been a long time since I've been here."

"Yeah, a lot of things changed here in the past years." I rolled my eyes and looked away again.

I wondered why she was even bothering with people like me when she was having this life? It seems like this has been bugging me ever since I saw who was trying to get me out of jail.

Just as I was about to ask her how come she became a public defender, she parked the car in front of a beautiful and enormous house, with the typical white fence and a big porch, probably twice the size of mine and Damon's room-it was the dream house every girl wishes for-I couldn't believe some people actually got what they wanted, unlike me and Damon. But then again-it was a whole different world from mine.

"Can you give me a few minutes to get inside and talk to my husband?" she asked and I nodded patiently as I got out of the car and leaned on the door. At first she headed to the door with a confident step, but then she obviously remembered something and turned abruptly around, giving me a warning look.

"I won't run away, I promise" I said and she nodded, now seemingly more calmed and turned back round. I honestly thought a lot about actually getting away from here.

The more I stayed, the more I convinced myself that it wasn't really a good idea-maybe I should just leave, but out of some reason, instead of doing so-I searched for my pack of cigarettes and got the last one out. I needed to forget the fact that I was hungry and this was the best and only way to do so-there was this smell of barbeque coming from someone's backyard-it might be even the Gilbert's one, who knows. All the houses around me were the same size theirs was, if not even bigger-of course, Damon and I have been to other bigger cities together and compared to them those houses weren't anything special, but for me, it seemed like a small paradise island in our relatively big town.

Mrs. Gilbert took too long, I'm guessing she might had troubles explaining her family that she brought home a strange homeless seventeen year old boy, who stole a car with his drunk brother, so I headed to their stairs and sat down, waiting patiently to see where this would end. I could hear voices from the inside, but I don't think they were really arguing, they were discussing something in a relatively loud manner, though and I managed to distinguish words like "just a homeless boy" and "couldn't leave him like that", "it's my job to take care" and so on and I was on the verge of just getting up and leaving this all behind my back, find my friend, maybe grab a beer and figure where to sleep, when the front door opened and I turned around surprised as I managed to throw the cigarette on the ground before her noticing.

"Come on in" she gently smiled and opened up the door widely. I stood up and hesitated a bit before finally getting in with a slow pace. I suddenly felt as if those people are about to judge me and I hated this more than everything in this world.

Once she let me in, I saw a man about the same age as her, quite tall, which made me feel like a kid, dressed in a pretty nice blue shirt and dark jeans

"This is my husband, Grayson" Mrs. Gilbert introduced me and we shook hands. He seemed like a nice guy, though he was giving me suspicious looks and I noticed him staring at my black eye and the big cut right under it "You'll have to forgive him for staring" she poked him and he shrugged his shoulders innocently. I liked him already "He's a doctor, can't help it."

"You've got quite the bruise there" he commented as he came closer to me and his wife

"He was in a fight last night" Mrs. Gilbert explained as I nervously scratched the back of my neck with my bloody knuckles

"I'm fine, really" I mumbled nervously and felt her gentle squeeze on my arm and looked up only to notice her nodding me down the hallway-she wanted me to follow them.

They led me to something which they called a guest room, which was twice the size of our living room-it had its own bathroom, imagine that! They left me some clothes and Mrs. Gilberts asked me to take a shower and join them in the kitchen for dinner. I was so worried and feeling out of place that I forgot to thank her. I could only think about how hungry and tired I was so I didn't hesitate to jump in the shower and clear myself up as fast as I could-I was never the one to take too much time under the hot water-I wasn't used to doing so and in ten minutes I was out, gently putting on the white shirt they've given me as I was trying not to cause myself too much pain. When I took a good look at my ribs in the bathroom mirror, I figured that I must've broken at least one of them, which explained the swallow and the big bruise there, but I knew I would live with it-I've had worse wounds and fights. Last night wasn't a big deal anyway.

When I finally put some clothes on, I got sheepishly out of the room and followed the directions to the kitchen, given me by Mrs. Gilbert. I heard their voices coming from the inside, including a child's one and unwillingly opened the door.

Once I entered, they immediately stopped talking and I turned towards Mrs. Gilbert for help-her husband was already on the table and a beautiful girl with brown straight hair was helping her with the plates. An eight or nine year old boy was staring at me with a curious smile on his face behind his father's back. They've all stopped whatever they were doing and stared at me until Mrs. Gilbert cleared her throat and figured she should introduce me to the rest of her family-the girl was her daughter Elena, the seventeen year old she mentioned was waiting for her at home and the boy was the younger brother Jeremy, who was indeed, as I supposed, eight years old. Elena gave me a warm and gentle smile and for the first time I felt like I'm not unwelcomed here. I nervously sat down on the table and barely kept myself from simply destroying the food in the plate. I was sitting opposite of Jeremy who was curiously staring at me as his mom passed him some bread

"Is it true that you stole a car?" he asked in a minute just as I've put the first bite in my mouth and looked around nervously.

"Jeremy!" his sister scolded him and he gave an apologizing look.

"It's fine" I assured with a smile and she relaxed back on her seat while I turned to her little brother. He reminded me so much of me when I was his age "Yes, kiddow, I did."

"Cool!" Jeremy exclaimed and made us all laugh while I shook his head trying to show him that it's not the right reaction and he might get in trouble "I mean that's kinda bad." they laughed again and I kept silently eating my food, trying not to bring any attention to myself, though they all seemed quite curious to know more about me.

"I never asked why you and your brother did it anyway?" Miranda spoke up as she turned back towards me and I put the fork down, trying to comprehend a decent answer "I'm sure there's a reason behind it" of course there was. She knew better than to think we were just fooling around and had nothing to do so we figured we should have some fun-it wasn't like this at all.

"My mother used to say that in life a man must choose their fights wisely so they could survive and do good in this world" I started and they all went silent "I'm guessing me and my brother made all the wrong choices. We made some mistakes in life and we tried to fix them by doing many others" I sadly smiled to myself "I'm guessing you could say we did all the wrong things and that wasn't only because the circumstances turned against us, but also because we weren't strong enough to do what was right."

"Your mother sounds like a wise woman." Mr. Gilbert stated as he leaned back on his chair and gave me a warm, non-judging look "You must be very lucky to have her."

"I was, sir." I stated firmly and he gave me a confused stare, wondering why I was speaking in past tense "She died when I was nine years old." they all mumbled that they're sorry and when I accidentally looked up at Elena, I realized she was the only one, who wasn't giving me a pitiful stare, instead she smiled sadly and I nodded gratefully-it was something between us and I have no idea how, but I felt like she understands how much I despise getting people's sympathy-it was what I hated most in this world and yet what I most received. She was a beautiful girl though when they changed the subject I managed to figure out that she had a boyfriend, of whom Mr. Grayson didn't really approve.

"My daughter here wants to be a doctor" Miranda started and surprisingly turned towards me as if she was asking for my opinion "Just like her dad and here I am trying to convince her to go to law school. I can't seem to be able to change her mind."

"Honestly, madam, if you're asking me, being a doctor is way much better. Dealing with idiots like me for the rest of your life must be an awful thing to do. It's better to watch someone die, than to be helplessly trying to do something for a person who's dead inside and still has to struggle and go on with their lives." I commented and Elena smiled appreciatively

"What do you want to be when you grow up?" Jeremy asked and I shrugged my shoulders

"I haven't really thought about that much. I have bigger problems to deal with like finding a job."

"What was the last place you worked at?"Grayson asked

"I worked for The Mikaelson construction firm."

"Really?" Miranda asked intrigued "The owner Klaus, is our neighbor. He knows all of his employees very well, he might remember you. Which reminds me, Grayson, sweetheart, we're invited for a barbeque at their house tomorrow night." the last sentence made both Elena and Jeremy grunt unpleasantly. They obviously hated participating in those stuff and here I was trying to remember when was the last time I ate a good steak.

"I doubt he remembers me, I was more like an errand boy."

"Why did you leave?" she asked again and I shrugged my shoulders, avoiding the answer to the question. I got in an argument with the supervisor, he has hated me from the very beginning and kept bashing on me for not doing my work right so eventually I couldn't stand working there anymore and left, a little before the beginning of the school year.

The rest of the dinner went on quietly and they kept talking about their own stuff while I silently finished my plate. Once we were all done, Miranda send Elena with her brother upstairs, though he kept begging me to play some with him later. I knew why Mrs. Gilbert was doing all this-she wanted to talk to me in private and her husband has obviously insisted on being here and making sure that I won't do anything stupid.

"We really need to try and find your father." she started again as she sat beside her husband who was drinking what I'm guessing was his usual after dinner bourbon glass

"What if..I don't want to find him" I said and she sighed heavily

"Okay, let's try again-do have any other relative who I could call?" she asked not willing to give up on me

"I have an uncle." I started and sighed at the thought of my uncle Zach, who was almost as bad as my father, but at least was smart enough not to get himself in enormous messes. He has gotten me out of situations like this before, but he always wanted something in return-like to work for him for free or doing something which could potentially get me back at jail. But at least I would be free of those people and their perfectly settled lives so I could go back at trying to figure out what I was going to do with my life from now on "We can call him."

"Something tells me you're not very up for this" Miranda said and I shrugged my shoulders as if it wasn't a big deal "What's the deal with him?" she figured she should dig deeper

"There's no deal, we're not very close is all." I lied "But he'll come and get me, he has done it before, he'll do it again."

"Okay" she nodded though still quite suspicious.

"I'll call him tomorrow and I'll leave. I promise that I won't bother you anymore."

"You're not bothering us, Stefan" Grayson spoke up this time "We just want to make sure you're fine."

"I will be, I've been taking care of myself for a long time now, I'll just keep doing it." I promised and stood up as I wasn't really comfortable there anymore so I figured it's time to leave.

When I went to bed that night, I felt so awkward-this wasn't what I was used to and I wished I could leave already. Maybe it was because I realized I could never have this kind of life. Or because I had no idea what will happen from now on and how I'll deal with everything.

Things were way too messed up and I had a hard time fixing them.


	2. Chapter 2

**_A/N: I'm sorry for the long wait, I've been really busy these days. Thank you all for the reviews, I would appreciate it very much if you leave your thoughts on this chapter as well! Also-all flashbacks or dreams are in Italic._  
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><p><strong>Stefan's POV<strong>

_I'm hiding myself under the blanket in mine and Damon's room, trying not to get too scared when I hear my big brother yelling downstairs, probably trying to get dad up from the floor. I know that in a minute he'll be up and he'll uncover me and he'll be terrified and I hated seeing him like this, because it scared me as well. So I cover my ears, and count the minutes until his arrival, but my hand hurts because when he finally let me go I fell on the floor and hit myself pretty hard. My back was on fire, I could feel the blood coming down it and I was sure the shirt I put on was soaked with it._

_God, please don't let Damon get mad, because he'll beat the hell out of him as well. Please, please, please. _

_I remove my hands as I realize that there's no noise coming from downstairs anymore. I'm not crying as well and I slightly remove the blanket in order to get some fresh air-the daylight disturbs my eyes-I wish it was night already, during the night everything's better, calmer and Damon's always home-that means that both him and I'll be safe sleeping together in one bed since had terrible nightmares. _

_I don't want to lie down, because if I do, I'll start crying again from the pain, so instead I try to remain for as long as I can sitting on my knees, as if I'm begging for some miracle to happen. _

_I finally hear his footsteps approach and him opening the door in a rush. Once he realizes I'm hiding under the blanket on the floor, he knows that things are bad so he doesn't just pull it out of me, instead I hear his calm and steady steps-I have hid my head back under-I like the dark, it calms me down. _

"_Stefan, buddy" I hear his slightly hoarse voice-he has either yelled too much downstairs before realizing that dad won't get up, or he was trying to hide away his tears-Damon rarely cried, I can't remember the last time he did, maybe he was still in diapers and mom was alive. "Come on" I feel his hand on the blanket, but I pull it back closer me and he sighs defeated as he continues trying to calm me down and make me show myself "It's fine, I'm here, you know that. Nothing bad will happen."_

"_You left me alone" I protested from under the blanket and he gasped surprised that I was talking, I never talked after those things happened, I didn't talk much as a whole. I was a silent one. _

"_You know, that I had to go out with uncle." I knew that he had to, but I wish he has stayed. I'm scared when I have to be alone in the house with dad-he's always drunk, he always yells, he always does what he did today. "I'm sorry" he sounds sincere and I feel one of the tears roll down my eyes. _

"_I want momma." I admit and that's when he knows he can remove the blanket away, I feel it falling down and I'm suddenly too exposed. He knows it and he pulls me to himself only so he would embrace me and gently stroke my head. We stay like this for some time and I wet his shirt with my tears, until I no longer have strength to do that, so I just stop and we stay like this._

"_Let me see how bad it is" he starts pulling up my shirt, but he's still hugging me and I feel him getting angrier by the minute "Jesus Christ, Stefan!" my father's belt has left so many scars already both on his and my back, but he always neglects himself-he's more stubborn now, more strong and that's why father rarely raises a hand to him anymore. "I'm going to kill him." I feel him suddenly letting me go and standing up and I try to catch his hand with the last strength that I am left with._

"_You're not going anywhere, boy" he stops and I turn around abruptly only to see my uncle standing on the door his arms crossed on his strong chest, his eyes are full of anger, power and they make Damon look even smaller than me in that moment. His eyes move from my big brother to me and I know that part of my back is still exposed so he can see all the cuts and bruises "Your brother's fine."_

"_He's not!" Damon opposed_

"_I said that he is!" he raised his voice and moved forward "Don't go downstairs, Damon or you'll end up worse than him." he threatened as he shut the door behind him so loudly that it made me cry again. I tried to cover myself under the blanket again, but Damon figured my intentions, so he caught me gently and moved me to his bed in order to clean my back from the blood. I heard him going to the bathroom for bandages and in a minute he was back, talking in this calming way of his, trying to make me relax._

"_It's going to be fine" he promised "When we grow up, we'll move away-just you and me, we'll go even further south, you know? And we'll buy one of those big houses and so much land with it and we'll even have our own workers. Imagine that, Stefan-people to work for us?_

"_And horses?" I asked pretending that this could all happen-Damon always said that my imagination is pretty wide for an eight-year old kid. _

"_Yes, many horses. As many as you want." I shut my eyes as I heard him going on like this-he would always figure some story to tell me while he was cleaning up my bruises, because he didn't want to make me cry from the pain-but I did that anyway and I was trying to hide my tears as I buried my head in the pillow. _

_When he was done he made me sit up and look at him. He put his hands on my arms and I tried avoiding his look, because I was afraid he'll scold me for not being careful and not trying to run away when dad got mad and did all this._

"_Look at me, Stefan" he begged gently and after a minute or so I finally looked up and faced the blue ocean of sadness and anger in his eyes "Remember what I always tell you?" I nodded, his words echoing in my head, it's like a mantra I repeat every time that dad gets like this "Say it." he orders as he brushes the last tears away from my face_

"_I'm smart, I'm strong and I'll endure the wildest storms that come my way" I furrowed my eyebrows as I tried to remember the last sentence. I don't think I've really forgotten it but I wasn't sure I'll ever live up to it "Nothing will ever scare me."_

"_Good, good!" he smiled, it's something he came up with a few years back when father's drinking worsened. "Remember it!" I nodded and he hugged me one last time, before he put me back to bed and reminded me not to sleep on my back because it will hurt too much-there was no need of him to do that-I was far too accustomed to the cuts and bruises-I would never do that. _

"Stefan?" I felt someone shaking me up and instinctively I grabbed the hand on my shoulder, trying to protect myself, forgetting for a moment that I'm not in jail "Stefan!" now the voice sounded more familiar-I jumped in bed and let go of her hand.

"I'm sorry!" I apologized once I realized that it was Mrs. Gilbert, my lawyer, who wouldn't just let me go without a guardian to sign the papers. I was breathing heavily, still quite shaken up from the dream I had, which was actually more of a memory from my childhood. She saw the confusion on my face and her expression change from surprised to worried

"Are you okay?" she asked concerned and I sat up trying to ease my breathing

"Yeah" I nervously scratched the back of my head "I'm so sorry I just-"

"It's fine, I get it" I looked up at her wondering what she meant "You had a bad dream." I nodded feeling even worse that he has made me, but I didn't really have time to think much as she lead me to their kitchen and began explaining something on our way there-I swear this woman, she was so energetic and she seemed like she always has to do something-I wonder how she dealt with it, it must be stressing her out.

When we got in, Elena was reading her biology book on the table while taking sips from her coffee-she was still in her PJs and her hair was a bit messy but she still seemed so beautiful to me. Just when I was wondering if she had a boyfriend her mom spoke to her.

"Elena, honey, Matt will be here any minute now, you should go get ready."

"Oh, no, he's not coming" she explained without moving her eyes from the book at all "He has urgent football practice or something and he said he'll call me later. Good morning, Stefan" she gave me a wide smile once she finally moved her look from the book and realized I was here.

"Good morning" I mumbled shyly, but with a wide smile on my face.

"Here, have some these" Miranda offered me a plate full of eggs and bacon but I shook my head

"I don't usually have breakfast." I opposed. It was true-Damon and I weren't used to this, our first meal of the day would always be lunch or only dinner, when there wasn't anything to eat at home.

"Well now you are" she said it in a tone which supposed she's not up to arguing with me so early in the morning. Actually, when I looked up at the clock I realized that it was almost noon and I've slept in. That hasn't happened in a very long time. I know that I almost hasn't slept those few days in jail, especially not after those guys beat me up

"That still hurts?" Elena asked and it took me a while to realize she's talking about my black eye which I still felt a bit swollen, though way better than before. I shrugged my shoulders, because my mouth was full of eggs and bacon-I realized I haven't had decent food in some time and I watched her get up and go to the fridge only to, much to my surprise, bring a bag of ice and hand it to me "Put it on, it will help." she ordered seriously as if she was a doctor already and I tried very hard not to blush when our hands touched.

"Thanks." I gave her another smile, trying to sound as sincere as I could

"So, are you still up to calling your uncle?" Miranda asked from the other side of the kitchen, I don't know if she has heard me and Elena talked, she was quite busy washing plates or something else, I wasn't paying attention to her. "Or do you want to start thinking of other options?"

"There are no other options" I answered sounding a bit too cold, which wasn't my intention at all "I'm not going to a foster home" no matter how Mrs. Gilbert wanted to sugarcoat it, I knew that it wasn't the place for me-it would only turn things into another living nightmare-a worse one, if that was even possible. She nodded and Elena pretended as if she hadn't heard us at all. Once I was done with breakfast, Miranda gave me the phone and I headed outside so I can talk to him, not that I was burning with enthusiasm but I just didn't have any other choice. I think Miranda wanted me to talk in front of her, but I was fast enough to snuck outside just when Jeremy has called up from another room and she had to leave. Elena, I believe was still in the kitchen, reading her book and neglecting the rest of the world-I swear, those people, they're lucky, they don't have a care in the world.

**Elena's POV**

I don't know why and how, but I had a bad feeling when it came to him calling this uncle of his, which is why I stood up and hid myself behind the curtains of the opened window-he was sitting outside on the bench my father made for us when I was still a little kid, the phone in his hand-he seemed so broken, I wonder how many bad things have happened to him?

When mom brought him home last night I was surprised-first because she never brings her work at home and second because he completely blew me away. I thought he would be some criminal who, could cause us nothing but trouble, dressed up in black, with an angry expression and I was honestly, quite terrified. For the first time in my entire existence I was doubting my mother's ability to take rational decisions and then he came in the kitchen-and he was just a bend and broken seventeen year old, with dirty blond hair, bloody knuckles, black eye and a dirty white shirt-he seemed so screwed up that it made me feel bad that I could even think all those other things that I had before. Suddenly, I found myself feeling sorry for him and I think he sensed it, but he never said so-he didn't want to be here, that's for sure.

I overheard mom and dad talking late after dinner and she said he was trying to get away, to lie to her-she didn't have the heart to leave him on the street. Dad said she did the right thing, though I knew he was a little bit disturbed by Stefan's presence here-I guess he just worried about him turning out to be this bad guy, who wants nothing but to rob us and this whole thing to be just some plan of his. I doubted it-he didn't look like that. He was just lost and confused and after last night's interrogation from mom and dad during dinner was just further confirmation that I was right.

"No, look, I'm not in prison anymore" I heard him arguing over the phone "I'm at the lawyer's house, she picked me up, because child services are closed on the weekends." he stopped for a moment, the other man was obviously responding something and Stefan sighed before he continued explaining "You gotta come get me, I have no idea where dad is and Damon's still in." another few minutes of silence from his side. It seemed like the other man was yelling or at least he was talking way too loudly "Yes, I don't need anything else from you, just come by and get me out of here, I'll take care of myself after that." he was planning on lying to my mother then. This man won't do anything to make things better for him, Stefan's just using him to get out of here. "Yes, I'll do whatever you want, just come please." he sounded desperate, more desperate than yesterday and that meant something's too wrong. I wondered what this guy could want out of him. Was he a bad person?

"Can't you come today?" Stefan asked, sounding annoyed already "Damn it. Good, good, I'll wait for you here till Sunday then is that okay?" the other person obviously agreed and Stefan was about to hung up when the man added something which made the blond boy furrow his eyebrows nervously "Yes, I said that I'll do it. I owe you." then he just hung up and I was worried that he'll stand up and come back inside right away, but instead he just ran his hand through his hair and sighed tiredly. Then he looked up at the sky and for a few minutes he remained like this, lost in his own thoughts until he picked up the phone again and dialed another number.

This time it seemed as if he was talking to a woman, whose name as far as I could get was Bonnie-I felt bad for eavesdropping, but I was already way too deep to stop-I admit, I was curious and maybe…a little worried. I didn't like what he was planning to do and I wasn't about to just go and rat him to my mom, but I had to maybe try and talk to him.

He talked to this girl for quite some time, asking her about his brother and for help once he gets away from here. She seemed quite pissed off and he kept apologizing that he didn't stop his brother, I couldn't figure out if he convinced her or not but at the end of the conversation she told him something, which obviously completely blew him away, because he asked her to repeat it a bunch of times and he stood up and started walking up and down the porch, both excited and terrified at the same time. He congratulated her on whatever this was, said that he was very happy and that he'll do whatever he can to help her-I was extremely confused, a minute ago he was asking her for help and now he was promising her the same? Something in his life has just drastically changed since he seemed both happy and worried, but most of all-quite excited. They hung up after a few minutes and I returned back to my place on the table.

He didn't get back inside though and in a minute or two my mom and my brother joined us in the kitchen.

"Where's Stefan?" she asked and I nodded towards the backyard, she furrowed her eyebrows, confused as to why he was still outside, but she didn't hesitate to join him, which left me and my brother alone and of course, as usually, he wanted to play with me, even though he saw I was trying to study.

**Stefan's POV**

I felt so confused after I hung Bonnie up-everything seemed…different after she told me the good news. The only good news that we've had in probably months. There was one problem now-I had to figure out how to help her if my brother has to stay in jail for a longer time and that meant that I'll need a job, maybe not even one, but two-school wasn't such a problem. Most teachers knew that I don't go to all classes-I mean our school wasn't really a good school-I could figure those things out somehow, or so I believed.

"Stefan?" Miranda's voice made me jump a little for the second time today and she gave me another apologizing look before cutting down to the chase "What happened?" she asked as she glanced over the phone in my hand

"My uncle can't come today, but he'll be here tomorrow evening." I announced trying to sound as cheerful as I could, though she didn't seem satisfied with my response, on the contrary, she furrowed her eyebrows and joined me on the bench.

"Are you sure you'll be okay with him?"

"Yeah, absolutely" I tried again to convince her this is the right thing to do.

"Good" she finally let out, though I don't think she was absolutely certain that she should agree with me "You still have to come to court in two weeks okay?" I nodded understandingly, I had no idea where I will be in two weeks, I was trying to figure how to survive tomorrow

"Is everything okay?" she asked again seeing how lost in my thoughts I was

I nodded without actually giving her a proper response, I had other things going on my mind.

"Well if you're staying with us for the time being, you can also come to the barbeque tonight."

"I'm not sure that's a very good idea." I tried to oppose, then again I realized that she doesn't want to leave me alone in the house-she might be good and kind-hearted, but she was also smart-she trusted me only to some extend and nobody blamed her for this, of course. I don't trust myself, let alone anyone else. "But if you insist, then I'll come" I rapidly changed my mind getting her out of this uncomfortable situation where she'll have to convince me furthermore about me going with them.

She was relieved and we were interrupted by Jeremy who wanted us to play video games together. I spent the rest of the afternoon with him and he wouldn't want to let me go anymore, which I guess would turn into a problem once I leave-he was an affectionate little monster and I guess his parents were too busy to pay attention to him. They loved him immensely though, Elena as well-she even joined us for about an hour while she was taking a break from studying and I can't help but admit that she is one of the most beautiful girls I've ever seen even when she had popcorns stuck in her beautiful straight long hair or when she had ice cream stains on her nice pink top-I mean…she was so normal. I haven't seen such a normal girl in my school in probably three or four years-Elena caught my eye and I couldn't stop staring at her especially when she dressed up in this summer dress for the barbeque-she was so beautiful.

"You're staring at my sister" Jeremy's voice brought me back to earth and I blushed as I tried to remind myself once again that I don't believe in love or relationships or anything different from occasional sex every now and again.

"I'm not." I refused to admit and he chuckled in his childish way

"It's fine, I don't like her boyfriend anyway." he shrugged his shoulders and went away to get himself a stake as he was hungry. We've arrived just five minutes ago and I was about to be introduced to Klaus Mikaelson and his fiancée Caroline.

It seemed to me like Miranda and Caroline get on very well-I don't know when or how but the Gilbert's have told them about me and they didn't seemed even slightly disturbed. Caroline dragged Miranda away in order to, I guess, gossip with her, while Jeremy ran away to the swings.

I on the other hand isolated myself on one of the chairs next to the back porch and observed the sky from there, trying to wrap my mind around things just as before until I felt her presence again.

She didn't say a single word, she just sat next to me and gently removed a lost strand of hair from her face behind her ear and placed her nice black purse in her lap.

"Everything seems so different here" I finally spoke up and she looked at me confused, but intrigued

"What do you mean?"

"It's like another universe" I say still not looking back at her "The streets, the front yards, even the sunset-everything's so different." I guess she was confused by my words or she just had no idea what to say to this "You guys are lucky."

'I know what you plan to do." she responded instead and I finally abruptly turned towards her as I raised my eyebrow "You'll call this uncle of yours and then he'll leave you and god knows what will happen. You just want to convince my mother that everything's going to be alright" I chuckled and she looked at me as if I'm crazy.

"But you're not going to rat me out, right?" I say it as if I'm certain that she won't do it.

"I'm still wondering what to do to be honest so now is your chance to convince me not to talk to my mother."

"I can take care of myself" I simply state after she waits patiently a few minutes for me "I've been doing it for the past few years and I'm still alive."

"Alive, but not well." she nodded at my bruised eye "You ended up in jail. I don't want that to happen again."

"You can't save everyone, Elena" I state dryly. I know that her dream involves becoming a doctor-it's natural for her to look out for ways to always help people, but she can't help me, no one can-the only good she can do for me is to let me go and not tell anyone what I suppose she has overheard while I talked to uncle Zach. Now I remember that the window was opened, she must've been able to hear everything without much effort. "I appreciate the effort, though" I stood up and put my hand on her shoulder "You have a beautiful life here, don't ever let that go. Believe me, it's what some people would kill for."

Just when I was about to leave her, I heard Jeremy's voice from behind me, calling me out to go help him get down from the swing.

When I turned around after a few minutes, she has disappeared inside the house.


End file.
